Card sorting device and method

ABSTRACT

The capacity of a card sorting device in increased. The device includes a card storage area for holding a plurality of edgealigned cards in vertical orientation for separation of certain cards from the remaining cards. A plurality of elongate code bars are located below the lower aligned edges of the cards and extend transverse to the cards. The device includes means for displacing certain selected code bars laterally of the device and means to move the laterally displaced code bars upwardly into adjacency with the lower edges of cards in the device. Cards having notches in their lower edges in alignment with the selected code bars are moved downwardly with respect to the remaining cards which are restrained from downward motion by the selected code bars, thus effecting card separation. The capacity of such device is enlarged according to the present invention by providing each elongate code bar as a plurality of individual longitudinally aligned sections each of which is mechanically coupled, such as by direct abutment, to an adjacent code bar section for lateral motion therewith. In this way, a very large number of cards can be provided for a given code bar size without the necessity of providing elaborate guide means for aligning each code bar in proper position in the device. In another sense, capacity is increased by obviating the necessity of utilizing massive code bars which would reduce the number of notches that could be effectively provided in an edge of a given card.

United States Patent Lanahan et al.

[ 51 June 27,1972

3,292,631 12/1966 Cross, Jr......

Primary Examiner-Richard A. Schacher Assistant ExaminerGene A. Church Attorney- Larson, Taylor and Hinds [5 7] ABSTRACT The capacity of a card sorting device in increased. The device includes a card storage area for holding a plurality of edgealigned cards in vertical orientation for separation of certain cards from the remaining cards. A plurality of elongate code bars are located below the lower aligned edges of the cards and extend transverse to the cards. The device includes means for displacing certain selected code bars laterally of the device and means to move the laterally displaced code bars upwardly into adjacency with the lower edges of cards in the device. Cards having notches in their lower edges in alignment with the selected code bars are moved downwardly with respect to the remaining cards which are restrained from downward motion by the selected code bars, thus eflecting card separation. The capacity of such device is enlarged according to the present invention by providing each elongate code bar as a plurality of individual longitudinally aligned sections each of which is mechanically coupled, such as by direct abutment, to an adjacent code bar section for lateral motion therewith. In this way, a very large number of cards can be provided for a given code bar size without the necessity of providing elaborate guide means for aligning each code bar in proper position in the device. In another sense, capacity is increased by obviating the necessity of utilizing massive code bars which would reduce the number of notches that could be effectively provided in an edge of a given card.

4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures CARD SORTING DEVICE AND METHOD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to card sorting devices. More particularly, the invention relates -to card sorting devices wherein selected cards are separated from a plurality of vertically oriented, edge-aligned cards having notches in one edge thereof. Still more particularly the invention relates to enlarging the capacity of such devices.

Card sorting devices of the foregoing type are known and a particular device of this type is described in our co-pending application Ser. No. 811,826 now US. Pat. No. 3,586,166, which is herein incorporated by reference. This device includes a card storage area for holding a plurality of edgealigned cards in vertical orientation for separation of certain cards from the remaining cards. A plurality of elongate code bars are located in the device below the lower aligned edges of the cards and extend across the device in a direction transverse to the cards. The device includes means to move certain selected code bars laterally of said device a fixed distance, and means to move the laterally moved selected code bars upwards into adjacency with the lower edges of cards in the device. Cards having notches in their lower edges in alignment with the raised code bars are moved downwardly relative to the remaining cards which are restrained from downward motion by the raised code bars clue to the absence of a notch in alignment with all of the raised code bars. Separation of the cards is thus effected and either groups of separated cards can be removed from the device. In a preferred embodiment, the downwardly moved cards are removed from the device.

It will be appreciated that no maximize the informationstorage capability of the invention, the code notches in the card edge should be as narrow as possible. The code bars, therefore, must be correspondingly narrow. In a typical embodiment, conventional cards are provided with 55 notches in an edge. Each code bar is positioned in the device in alignment with a notch area of each card. For example, the twentieth bar is in alignment with the twentieth notch area of each card in the device. As the number of cards is increased, the problems of alignment of the code bar and the proper card notch areas increases due to the increased slenderness ratio of the code bar. It should be pointed out that for a given card notch configuration, the maximum thickness of a code bar is fixed, since all must be accommodated in side-by-side, laterally and vertically-movable positions below the cards. Therefore, as the device is enlarged to increase the number of cards in the card storage area, the length of the bar increases. It has been found that alignment problems become quite severe as the number of cards increases. For example, with cards having a conventional thickness of about 7 mils and having 55 code notch areas in the lower edge, alignment problems effectively limit the card capacity to about 4000 or even as low as 2000.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a card sorting device of the type described having an enlarged capacity. It is a further object of the invention to provide a card sorting device of the type described having an enlarged capacity without the necessity of using complex alignment means. It is still a further object of the invention to provide a card sorting device of the type described having an enlarged capacity without the necessity of increasing the thickness of the code bars. It is still a further object of the invention to provide a card sorting device of the type described having an enlarged card capacity without the necessity of reducing the number of code notch areas provided on a card.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The foregoing and other objects of the invention which will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art are achieved according to the present invention by providing, in a card sorting device of the type described, the improvement wherein each code bar comprises a plurality of individual 1ongitudinally aligned sections each of which is mechanically coupled to an adjacent code bar section for lateral motion therewith.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION There follows a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, together with accompanying drawings. However, it is to be understood that the detailed description and accompanying drawings are provided solely for the purpose of illustrating a preferred embodiment and that the invention is capable of numerous modifications and variations apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic cross sectional elevation through a card sorting device according to co-pending application Ser. No. 81 1,826 showing a conventional code bar arrangement;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic cross sectional elevation through a card sorting device employing a plurality of individual code bars according to the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, a conventional card sorting device includes a card storage area 1 for holding a plurality of edgealigned cards 2 in vertical orientation for separation of certain cards from the remaining cards. Cards 2 are releasably sup ported by suitable means, such as by one or more riser bars described in more detail in co-pending application Ser. No. 811,826 and not shown herein for simplicity. The riser bars are conveniently located at forward and/or rear ends of the cards such that their lower edges, which contain code notches positioned along that edge in accordance with information on the cards, are releasably supported in horizontal plane 3. The cards are conveniently held in one or more bays between side walls 4, 5 of the device with all of their edges in alignment. The cards are conventional data storage cards such as aperture cards, microfilche, and the like.

A plurality of elongate code bars 6 are located below the lower aligned edges of cards 2 lying in plane 3. Code bars 6 are located in side-by-side relationship and extend transverse with respect to the cards between side walls 4, 5 of the device. A single code bar 6 is visible in FIG. 1, the other code bars being in alignment with the code bar shown and being located both behind and in front of (in the sense of the drawing) code bar 6 shown.

Each code bar 6 is slidably held in vertical orientation as shown in slot 7 in wall 4 and slot 8 in wall 5. Each code bar rests on lower edge 9 of slot 7 and on lower edge 10 of slot 8. Additional supporting members may be provided between walls 4 and 5 and these may also be provided with slots for each code bar.

A solenoid 11 is positioned adjacent one end 6' of code bar 6 with its armature 12 positioned to move code bar 6 to the right in the sense of the drawings as represented by arrow 13 on actuation of the solenoid. Code bar 6 includes a lip 14 engageable with the upper edge of member 15 to limit the motion of code bar 6 to the right.

Each code bar 6 includes two notches 16 and 17 located adjacent ends 6 and 6", respectively, of the code bar. Notch 16 is in alignment with member 15 and notch 17 is in alignment with a member 18 located below the code bars. Members 15 and 18 are simultaneously movable vertically upwards a distance corresponding to the depth of notches 16 and 17 under the action 'of a cam actuated lever (not shown) or other suitable device. Thus, when code bar 6 is positioned in slots 7 and 8 with notches l6 and 17 in alignment with members 15 and 18, the latter will move upwards into notches 16 and 17 without disturbing the position of the code bars.

Upon actuation of a selected solenoid 11, a selected code bar will move to the right from the position shown in FIG. 1 a fixed distance, in this case to a position where lip 14 engages the left side of member 15.Notches l6 and 17 will then be out of registry with members 15 and 18 and will thus be moved upwardly in slots 7 and 8 with members 15 and 18. The rise mo,- tion of the selected code bars is such as to bring the selected code bars into proximity with the lower edges of the notched cards aligned in plane 3.

The card supporting means (not shown) is then released to permit cards having notches in alignment with all of the selected code bars to move downwardly with respect to the remaining cards which are restrained from downward motion by the selected code bars. Thus, if there are any cards in the storage area having code notches in the lower edges corresponding to all of the selected code bars, those cards will be effectively separated from the remaining cards. The device preferably includes means to further separate the cards such as by separating the cards which move downwardly and delivering of these cards for facile removal from the device.

While the foregoing device provides effective card sorting, some difficulty in alignment of the code bars with card notches is experienced where card capacity and/or code capacity is increased. Where the slenderness ratio of the code bars becomes excessive, rather elaborate guides must be provided to ensure proper code bar position across the full width of the machine. According to the present invention, the capacity of the device is expanded without the necessity of providing a complex code bar guide system by providing code bars each of which comprises a plurality of individual longitudinally aligned sections each of which is mechanically coupled to an adjacent code bar section for lateral motion therewith. A device of this type is shown in FIG. 2.

The device includes a code bar 101 extending between side walls 102 and 103, the code bar comprising a plurality of sections 101, 101", 101, in longitudinal alignment as shown. Each code bar section is supported for lateral motion in a first slot in a first guide member located adjacent one end of the code bar section and a second slot in a second guide member adjacent the other end of the code bar section. Thus member 101' is supported in vertical orientation by first slot 103' in first guide member 104' and by second slot 105' in second guide member 106, member 101 being supported by corresponding first slot 103" in first guide member 104" and so on. Each slot supports the code bar section and provides a guide for holding the code bar vertically while permitting lateral motion of the code bar section transverse to the lower aligned edges of the cards- The code bars are moved laterally to the right in the sense of the drawings in the direction of arrow 107 under the action of member 108 moving in guideway 109 under the action of spring 110 which urges member 108 to the right against a protruding portion 111 of first code bar section 101. Each code bar section abuts an adjacent section such that upon motion of first section 101' to the right, each code bar section 101" 101 also moves laterally to the right.

Motion of the code bar 101 to the right is prevented by a latch 112 which includes lip 113 engaging the right hand end of terminal code bar section 101. Latch 1 12 is released by armature 114 of solenoid 115. Armature 114 is positioned or is movable into position adjacent latch member 112 of a desired code bar. On actuation of solenoid 115, armature 114 rises, which lifts latch member 112 thus releasing code bar 101 for motion to the right. Each latch 112 is guided for vertical motion in one or more slots such as slot 105 provided in side walls 103 and slot 116 in member 117 adjacent side wall 1 17.

Upon release of latch 112, code bar section 101' moves to l the right under the influence of spring 110 a distance which is limited in any convenient manner such as by a stop 119. Notches 120' in section 101', notches 120" in section 101" and so on are thus moved to the right out of registration with members 121', 121" 121. Members 121', 121" 121 are then raised by means of a cam actuated lever arm or the like in which event the selected code bars will be raised while the remaining code bars will not rise due to the registration of notches 120" 120 with the members 120", 121" 1121. The device thus functions to separate cards in the same manner as the device of FIG. 1 except that the code bar includes a plurality of longitudinally aligned sections 101', 101" 101 Selected code bars are returned to the position shown in FIG. 2 by the action of a reset layer, such as stop 119, which is movable to the left in the sense of the drawings. After members121, 121" 121 are lowered to the positions shown in FIG. 2, member 119 is moved to the left from the position shown to move the previously selected code bars to the left. The code bars are moved a distance sufficient to permit lip 113 of latch 112 to engage the end of bar section 101" under the action of spring 122. Member 119 is then returned to the right to the position shown in FIG. 2.

The code bar sections are preferably unattached as shown in FIG. 2, but may be mechanically fastened together by any suitable means. The individual bar sections also preferably abut to conserve space, but may be separated by one or more members which mechanically couple adjacent bar sections. The length of a bar section can vary widely and conveniently corresponds to an individual card sorting unit. That is, a card storage unit may have capacity of, for example, 2000 cards. To increase the card carrying capacity of the device, one or more units are placed in side-by-side adjacency with the code bars of each unit mechanically coupled according to the present invention. The device will thus comprise a plurality of code bars extending'under all of the cards in the device, each code bar comprising a plurality of longitudinally aligned sections according to the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a card sorting device including a card storage area for holding a plurality of edge-aligned cards in vertical orientation for separation of certain cards from the remaining cards, said device including a plurality of elongate code bars located below the lower aligned edges of said cards and extending transverse to said cards, means for displacing certain selected code bars laterally of said device, means to move said laterally moved selected code bars upward into adjacency with the lower edges of cards in said device, and means for moving cards having notches in their lower edges in alignment with said selected code bars downwardly with respect to the remaining cards to effect separation thereof, the improvement wherein each code bar comprises a plurality of individual longitudinally aligned sections each of which is mechanically cou pled to an adjacent code bar section for lateral motion therewith.

2. An improved card sorting device according to claim 1 wherein each code bar section is in direct contact with an adjacent code bar section.

3. An improved card sorting device according to claim 1 wherein each code bar section is fastened to an adjacent code bar section for simultaneous lateral motion.

4. An improved card sorting device according to claim 1 further including a member interposed between adjacent code bar sections to mechanically couple said sections for simultaneous lateral motion.

i t i 

1. In a card sorting device including a card storage area for holding a plurality of edge-aligned cards in vertical orientation for separation of certain cards from the remaining cards, said device including a plurality of elongate code bars located below the lower aligned edges of said cards and extending transverse to said cards, means for displacing certain selected code bars laterally of said device, means to move said laterally moved selected code bars upward into adjacency with the lower edges of cards in said device, and means for moving cards having notches in their lower edges in alignment with said selected code bars downwardly with respect to the remaining cards to effect separation thereof, the improvement wherein each code bar comprises a plurality of individual longitudinally aligned sections each of which is mechanically coupled to an adjacent code bar section for lateral motion therewith.
 2. An improved card sorting device according to claim 1 wherein each code bar section is in direct contact with an adjacent code bar section.
 3. An improved card sorting device according to claim 1 wherein each code bar section is fastened to an adjacent code bar section for simultaneous lateral motion.
 4. An improved card sorting device according to claim 1 further including a member interposed between adjacent code bar sections to mechanically couple said sections for simultaneous lateral motion. 